India urges ITU to release more frequency bands

Anticipating exponential jump in users of mobile and broadband services that could hit mobile and broadcasting operations in the country, India has urged the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to release a clutch of key frequency bands in the range of 1427-1518 MHz, 3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz.

Anticipating exponential jump in users of mobile and broadband services that could hit mobile and broadcasting operations in the country, India has urged the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to release a clutch of key frequency bands in the range of 1427-1518 MHz, 3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz.

This was seconded by other south Asian countries like China, Thailand and South Korea at the World Radio Communication Conference (WRC) held in Geneva in November last year.

The government said these frequencies can considerably increase 3G and 4G data speeds and also be beneficial for filling in the loopholes for broadband connectivity across the country that has already been delayed.

For the purpose, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the information and broadcasting ministry have joined hands for optimal usage of the unused airwaves.

The I&B ministry’s internal note states that it is in the process of freeing up 700 MHz band of airwaves for commercial use and that it would need other band of spectrum which either remains unutilised or from the newly assigned spectrum bands in near future to meet its demand for broadcast, Doordarshan, Space Department, Direct-to-Home and for other sectors not pretaining to telecommunications sector but which need spectrum in short quantums.

Sources said the government may get over 1500 MHz of spectrum from these bands that would largely be used for commercial purpose. The government expects that this would meet the requirement of the Indian telecom industry for the 10-12 years.